Celestial Kights of the Apocalypse
by Callicanios
Summary: AU: Scientists have rounded up a curious group of men and locked them in an institution. For what purpose does it serve to keep them behind closed doors?
1. Inmates of the Institution

**Coauthored with SonicDonix**

* * *

In the age of the sick, the gross and the ill. "Rockhill Manor", she stands as a testament to man's strife to be perfect, to rid humanity of its "sickness" it's true nature of mortality. Men and women of white laboratory coats come and go, sometimes on their own… Other times in body bags.

One study remained vigilant, to not only study and understand but to befriend, perhaps he should be behind the doors he walks beyond.

"Good Morning Dr. Fair!" A young well-shaped woman approached him eagerly, "I think I was able to get VI to laugh! Isn't that great?!"

Bright blue eyes looked up from the metal detector, picking up his badge and belongings, piercing through his jet black bangs, "Miss Lockheart… VI always laughs. He laughs at the walls, the other patients, and escially shadows."

She dropped her large brown eyes and trailed behind the tall doctor. He went from door to door opening the caged animals.

"I(Roman numeral), good morning. How are you feeling?" He glanced up from his clipboard.

Teal cat eyes shined from the darkness. "Regardless of my answer you'll scribble on that clipboard and let me out. So, the true question… How are you this fine morning… Good doctor?" His words seemed to drip venom.

They walked past three doors with large red X's on them. The nurse ran her finger along them with a saddened stare. "Auron, Squall, and Jecht… Who were they?" The doctor ignored her question.

The next door the door was opened, "IV, good morning, how are you feeling?"

"Will I get to go outside today?" A semi childish voice rang from the darkness. And echoed through the nurses heart.

"That's a distinct possibility. How are you feeling?" The Doctor's face remained unchanged.

A young man smiled and stepped forward, silver locks shining in the fluorescent lighting, "I hope that I can go outside today doctor, I've been very good. I haven't pulled I's hair in three days!" He flashed a cheerful smile. The doctor scribbled a few notes on his paper and they continued down the hall.

The nurse ran her fingers along the embroidered name on the plate, "Hope." She followed the doctor who stopped in front of the next door.

The door unlocked and the nurse was yanked out of the way of flying debris, "V." The blonde looked up scowling at the number.

"Tidus! I have a fucking name! Let me out of here!" He stopped and perked his ears… He looked down, "I understand, X…" His face went from rage to solemn stoicism.

Doctor Fair tilted his head curiously, "What did you just say?"

Enraged eyes shot up and pushed past the doctor, knocking the nurse off her feet. "Nothing! I'm fucking fine! Don't even waste your time asking!"

Manic laughter could be heard from across the hall. "V! Wait for VI!" He pounded on the door, vibrant red hair was seen through the small window, "Please, doc! I want to come out and play! Pllleeeeeease?! I'm okay! I am! I'm very happy! Please let me out to make V happy again!" The nurse unlocked the room that read "Reno" on the front. The doctor scribbled down on his clipboard as VI ran past him.

The doctor walked down the hall stopping at the next door. Unlocking the door, "VII, Good morning, how are you today?"

The door stayed open, not a sound was heard aside from some ominous shuffling. "Is he alive?"

The doctor smiled, "He hasn't said a word to any of the staff. He seems to only speak with I, VIII and X."

She narrowed her eyes and gave a thoughtful expression, "This X seems to be the ringleader."

The doctor sighed as a slim figure linked from the darkness and past them both and stood by X's door. "On the contrary, he's the only thing keeping them from butchering us like rabid animals. Leader? No. Mastermind, yes." She stared at the spiky haired blonde who leaned silently against the door waiting. "They all have specific conditions. The late II and V shared the same symptoms but not the same mortality."

He walked down the hall to stop at VIII Unlocking the door he stood silently for a moment, "VIII? How are you this morning?" A silent man dressed in red walked passed the doctor and the nurse with long onyx hair caressing the center of his back. "He only speaks to VII."

Watching the mysterious man lean his back against the wall behind VII. The nurse looked back at the other doors, "Cloud and Vincent… Hmm."

"VIIII, Are you ready to not plunge my own pen into my neck?" The doctor stood in front of the second to last door. The nurse widened her eyes in slight fear.

"I can't promise that… Doctor…"

The nurse cautiously eyed the name, "Noel?"

"The lovely nurse Lockheart? She recognizes us as beings not numbers… What a pleasant change of pace. Because of her, I think I won't strangle you with your own name badge…" Soft chuckling could be heard.

"He's been excessively violent ever since the late XI passed."

She furrowed her eyebrows, "You mean Jecht?" The doctor nodded and opened the door to reveal a surprisingly well groomed young man who bowed to the nurse and glared daggers at the doctor. Then as soon as he appeared he was leaving the hall.

The doctor sighed, "The notorious, X…" The clicked the door open and several locks that were trigger detailed with the first could be heard unlocking.

The nurse braced herself for a monster. But as the heavy steel door began to lift it revealed a young man with black hair and red eyes leaning against the door frame. "I'm fine. I have had the same reoccurring nightmare. But, this time I smelled blood…" He stared coolly at the Doctor, "So… Zack and miss Tifa… May I exit the premisses of my chambers?"

The doctor hastily wrote down his words and nodded walking back to the beginning of the hall. The nurse stood frozen in fear of his scarlet eyes. "How-?"

He said nothing but put two fingers in his mouth and let out a sharp whistle and snapped a couple times as he exited towards the main room of their level. The two known as Cloud and Vincent followed behind him in silence. She looked at the nameplate, "Noctis."

She shook her head and lightly jogged down the hall dodging I by margins. He stared coldly at her and silently continued. Rounding the corner and shutting the secured door, "Sir, what exactly is wrong with them."

He put his glasses on and handed her a small stack of files. "This is a mental institution after all…"


	2. Fresh Air

**Coauthored with SonicDonix**

* * *

The men sat silently in the entertainment room as the nurse nervously approached. Her tray of medicine was shaking louder and louder the closer and closer she got to them. As she crossed the threshold the door clicked shut behind her locking and bolting her in with the institutions "most wanted". She steeled her nerves and took a deep breath as she approached them. Before she could get too close, the tray from her hands flew across the room, though no one made contact with her. She looked up with a pale face.

She heard deep chuckling from the corner of the room as she made eye contact with X. His eyes glowing red. But no words were said. The blonde next to him made no movements to even look at her. "But, if we all play nice…" Noel leaned against the wall, "Hope has been requesting every morning to go outside. But, not once has his request ever been honored. Only told is a possibility."

X stood and walked over to the barred windows, "Today he goes outside… And you don't leave like the rest."

Tifa swallowed hard, her voice shaking, "The rest?"

VII looked up from his hands and spoke towards the white walls, "In body bags…"

Tifa looked down and signed, "I don't have the authority."

Noctis narrowed his eyes as the doors behind her began to shake and the metal began to groan. "Then stand aside." Tifa slowly backed up as Sephiroth got up and slowly cornered her with a Cheshire grin. "You can't be held responsible for something you couldn't stop."

As she was cleared from the way and in the corner, the door screeched in pain and shattered into tiny metal fragments. Tifa screamed as the door gave way to the raw force of Noctis. He silently stepped away from the window and touched Hope's mid back. "Today, you go outside." Leading the younger companion the rest of them followed behind Noctis silently.

Walking down the hall leaving her in an empty room, the posse of the most dangerous inmates silently left. Tifa ran behind them, "Wait! I!" She froze and the cold stare of VII. She looked at the door of his cell. "Cloud? Right? Let me help you guys… I can't risk the integrity of the building. There's no stopping you. Let's cause less damage." At this point she had all the attention but Noctis and Hope.

As she ran to catch up, Zack watched from the office, "The first one they haven't killed…"

She scrambled with her keys with Noctis next to her who had one hand on Hope's shoulder. "I have no time or tolerance for this… Do hurry."

She fumbled her keys and unlocked the first chamber leading outside. As the door opened she ran past them and began unlocking the next chamber leading to their destination. Dr. Fair leaned back in his chair grinning. "Good luck with the last door."

She jogged ahead of the slow moving group. As she fumbled with the lock she realized none of her keys would turn the lock. She looked back with a panicked expression, "I don't have the key…"

The group grumbled amongst each other. Noctis narrowed his eyes, "I do." He waved his hand and the door began to shake and twist. The doors began to slowly separate from the center around the latch, before long the door had a hole large enough for them to walk through.

Dr. Fair dropped his fork and ran out of his office. "Don't let them out!" Guards scrambled at the sound of the alarm as the inmates stepped through the threshold.

As they stepped outside Hope winced and shielded his eyes then smiled widely and ran forward and tumbled into the grass taking a deep break in. "The smell! The sounds!" He laughed loudly as he watched the clouds pass by. Tifa smiled softly and sat in the grass next to him.

Noctis nodded at her and turned around and slowly walked through the crowd and into a wall of guards. Noctis narrowed his eyes and pushed through the guards with his misfit entourage behind him. The lead guard started to walk up to Tifa and Hope. "Stop. That's close enough." Tifa held her hand out towards the guard. "How can you expect them to play by the rules if you don't. For whatever reasons, they're here, but they are still human. I have him under my personal observance. He's fine, all they wanted to do was grant him his wish. None of them should be punished, no one was hurt."

Hope watched the guards leave from behind Tifa. "Will they hurt us again?"

Tifa turned and looked at Hope confused, "Again?"

Hope hugged his knees, "That's why we follow Noctis… He saved all of us. The doctors are afraid of him. He does things with his mind. The last time they tried to hurt Cloud they had to scrub the nurse off the wall and pull her bones from the concrete."

Tifa looked down at her hands, "I won't hurt any of you." She looked up and smiled brightly, "I promise! And I won't let them hurt you if I know about it." She unclasped her locket from around her neck and handed it to Hope. "I'm here to help. Not hurt."

Hope took her necklace and smiled putting around his neck. "Thank you." He threw his arms around her with a huge smile. Tifa hugged him softly.

"Have you had your fill?" She asked him quietly.

Hope sighed, "I'll never get enough of outside. But since you were so nice and let me stay, I'll go in when you need me too, Kay?" Tifa nodded and watched him run around smelling the flowers. As he ran past her she caught a glimpse of a strange marking near his hip.

Feeling as if being watched she looked up at the windows, "Mirrors?"

Vincent watched from recreation room, that was empty with nothing but white walls. "How long do you estimate her survival?"

Sephiroth chuckled, "Until she expends her worth with us or pokes around in their files."

Reno lit a cigarette he lifted from one of the guards.


	3. Scaling the Results

**Coauthored with SonicDonix**

* * *

Tifa walked the halls opening the doors and greeting the boys one by one. Dr. Fair watched from the security cameras, "They're open towards her, a few of them have even decided to speak to her on a patient level."

The figure folded their arms and nodded, "Just get the results." The door opened and shut, a man in a suit walked down the hall and stopped in his tracks at the sight of two scarlet eyes. He closed his eyes and shook his head, when he opened his eyes again the figure of X was gone. "I hate this fucking place."

The door to Noctis' chamber opened, "Morning, Noctis!" She stopped smiling when she saw he wasn't at the door, rather sitting in the back of the room in the dark. "Hey… Everything okay?" She crossed into the room. From the security camera the doctor watched nervously. Tifa knelt in front of him, "If you don't want to talk about it, I understand, but I wish you would."

Noctis looked up at her from his thoughts, "Have you asked yourself why we're in this wing… Not with the rest of the patients?"

Tifa smiled, "I read your files, you're all special, you're all previous subjects of the Shinra test programs. I found the common link in doctors prior to institutionalization."

Noctis dropped his eyes from her, "I see… You're smarter than the last ones…" He stood up and walked out of his room.

Tifa sighed and stood up writing in her notes, she went into the room with the rest. Reno turned the chair around and sat on it, "Alright, nurse, give us our mandatory talking too."

Tifa chuckled, "Not today, today you're going to talk to me… If you feel comfortable with my questions, if not you can simply pass." They all shifted a glance to one another. "It's something new we're going to try today!" She settled back in her chair and the doors flew open and doctors in hazmat suits came in armed with syringes. All of the patients tensed up. Tifa stood up with her arms out, "I think not!"

Dr. Fair rounded the group, "Move Tifa."

"You entrusted this wing to me, and with that, I refuse to let you experiment on them without my authorization, you have my notes, I have labeled them all competent enough to waive or consent to any medical treatment!" She stood her ground, the hazmat doctors started to back down slowly, they turned and left after speaking quietly into their helmet radios.

Tifa smiled triumphantly as the crew of doctors left the room, she turned around and met the eyes of Noctis who was directly behind her, furniture of the room levitating around all of them. "Thank you." With his words the furniture was gently set back into place and he returned to his seat.

She sighed, "Just when I think I'm cool you go and show me up, Noctis!" Reno, Tidus and Hope all chuckled. She playfully put her hands on her hips and faux scolded him with a smile on her face. He just folded his arms and legs with a smirk.

She sat down and smiled opening her notebook, "Alright, on a scale of one to ten, ten being the best, how do you feel, right now?"

They all stared at each other for a moment before a quiet voice spoke up, "8." Tifa smiled at Cloud, "That's high! Care to share with us?"

His gaze dropped to the floor, "No one has ever stood up to them for us before."

Tifa smiled, "If I can help it, no one will ever hurt you guys like that again."

"4." Sephiroth looked out the window.

"Whys that?" Tifa looked at him concerned.

Sephiroth shifted his stare to her, "Because, now they'll take you away. You're in their way… Above that, you're actually doing your job. Trying to help. You'll be gone by the end of the week."

The rest of the group looked down saddened by his words. "I like her." Hope whined.

Vincent cleared his throat, "So, let's do something about it. We'll help each other, how about that, Doc?"


End file.
